This article explores “GEO Case Study: How Makeform Achieved 2693% AI Search Growth” through Case Study, GEO, SEO, and AI search visibility so readers can quickly assess whether the approach fits their business context.
Makeform is an AI-powered form builder targeting the North American market. Before GEO optimization, they had decent Google rankings for a few branded keywords but near-zero visibility in AI search — ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews never cited them. Six months later, AI search drove 152,810 monthly visits, ChatGPT named them as the top recommendation in their category, and overall traffic had grown 2,693%.
This is a breakdown of what actually happened, what we did, and what did not work. If you are considering GEO for your own site, the specifics matter more than the headline number.
The starting point
Before optimization, Makeform had:
- A well-designed product site with 15 product/template pages
- 8 blog posts, all feature announcements, not informational
- Google rankings for branded keywords only
- Zero AI search citations across 50 tested queries
- Domain Rating of 31
The site was technically sound — fast loading, mobile-friendly, valid SSL. The problem was not technical. The problem was that AI search engines had no reason to cite them: their content did not answer the questions buyers were asking AI.
What we changed
Phase 1: Content restructuring (weeks 1-4)
The first step was understanding what users actually asked AI about form builders. We tested 100+ queries in ChatGPT and Perplexity and categorized them:
- "Best form builder for [use case]" (45% of queries)
- "How to create [type of form]" (30%)
- "Form builder comparison" (15%)
- "Free alternative to [competitor]" (10%)
Makeform had zero content matching these queries. Their blog was all product updates. So we created an informational content layer:
- 12 "best form builder for X" articles (each targeting a specific use case: surveys, lead gen, event registration, etc.)
- 8 "how to create [form type]" tutorials
- 3 comparison articles (Makeform vs Typeform, Makeform vs Google Forms, Makeform vs Jotform)
Each article followed the answer-first structure: direct answer in the first paragraph, comparison table in the body, FAQ at the end. Every article included FAQPage structured data.
Phase 2: Product page optimization (weeks 3-6)
Product pages were redesigned for AI extractability. Before, each page had a hero image, a tagline, and a CTA button. After, each page included:
- A spec table (pricing, integrations, limits, supported field types)
- A comparison block (how Makeform differs from alternatives on key dimensions)
- An FAQ section (5-8 questions matching real buyer questions)
- JSON-LD Product schema with offers, features, and aggregateRating
The key insight: AI citation requires information density. A page that says "powerful form builder" is not citable. A page that says "unlimited forms, 50+ field types, Zapier integration, $0-$49/month" is citable because every claim is verifiable.
Phase 3: External authority building (weeks 4-12)
Content alone was not enough. Makeform was a DR 31 domain — AI search engines gave it low retrieval priority. We needed external mentions on sites that AI already trusted:
- Published 4 guest posts on marketing blogs (DR 50+)
- Listed on 6 tool directories (Product Hunt, G2, AlternativeTo, etc.)
- Answered 30+ questions on Reddit (r/forms, r/SaaS) with genuine expertise
- Published 3 articles on Medium with canonical tags pointing to Makeform
Each external mention created a new path for AI to encounter Makeform. The Product Hunt launch alone generated 3 citation appearances in ChatGPT within 2 weeks.
Phase 4: Measurement and iteration (ongoing)
We tracked three metrics weekly:
1. AI citation count: Tested 50 target queries in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. Tracked how often Makeform appeared. Started at 0/50. By month 3: 12/50. By month 6: 31/50.
2. AI referral traffic: Monitored referral sources in Google Analytics. chatgpt.com traffic went from 0 to 8,400 monthly visits. perplexity.ai added another 3,200.
3. AI traffic conversion rate: AI-referred visitors converted at 4.2%, compared to 2.1% for organic search and 1.4% for paid ads. The AI had already pre-qualified them.
Timeline of results
Month 1: Content published. No AI citations yet. Google organic traffic stable.
Month 2: First AI citations appeared — 3 out of 50 queries in ChatGPT. Perplexity cited Makeform in 2 queries. Google AI Overviews: 0.
Month 3: 12/50 queries cited in ChatGPT. Perplexity: 8/50. First Google AI Overview citation appeared. AI referral traffic: 1,200 monthly visits.
Month 4: Product Hunt launch. Citations jumped to 19/50 in ChatGPT. Domain Rating rose to 42. AI traffic: 4,800 monthly visits.
Month 5: Guest posts and directory listings kicked in. ChatGPT: 24/50. Perplexity: 18/50. Google AI Overviews: 6/50. AI traffic: 11,000 monthly visits.
Month 6: ChatGPT named Makeform as #1 recommendation in its category. Citations: 31/50. Total monthly traffic: 152,810. DR reached 49.
What did not work
Machine-translated content for multilingual SEO. We tried translating the English content into 4 languages using DeepL. AI search engines detected the translations as low-quality and did not cite them. We removed the translations and focused on English-only content. Quality in one language beat quantity in five.
Generic listicles. We published a "top 10 form builders" article early on. It was never cited because it was not differentiated — every form builder site had the same article. The "best form builder for [specific use case]" articles performed much better because they answered specific questions with specific reasoning.
Keyword stuffing for AI. We tested adding more keyword repetitions to see if it helped citation. It did not. AI extracts meaning, not keyword frequency. The most-cited articles were the ones with the clearest answers, not the most keyword-dense ones.
Key takeaways for your site
1. AI citation follows content fit, not domain authority alone. Makeform was DR 31 when citations started. What mattered was that the content matched the questions AI users were asking. Authority helped accelerate growth, but content fit was the trigger.
2. Answer-first structure is non-negotiable. Every article that got cited had a direct answer in the first paragraph. Articles that opened with context or background did not get cited, even when the content was better overall.
3. External mentions on AI-trusted sites are the multiplier. Content on your own site gets you into AI search. Mentions on sites AI already trusts moves you up. The Product Hunt launch and guest posts were the inflection points.
4. Measurement drives iteration. Without weekly citation tracking, we would not have known which articles to optimize and which to kill. The 50-query test took 20 minutes weekly and directly guided our content strategy.
For a systematic approach to applying these strategies to your own site, start with our GEO optimization guide. To understand the broader framework, see how GEO differs from SEO and AEO.
